Contents Tree

Sylvandale is the elven name for the huge forest which runs the length of Albion's western border. Today it is an idylic place of dales and lightly wooded glens and also the home of the main elven nation in the area around the Kingdom. Sylvandale is the name of the wood and the capital city of the elves. The humans usually refer to this forest as the Elvenwood or sometimes still the Bloodwood, though that term has mostly fallen out of use.

This ancient forest used to be home to many elves, before the kingdom of Albion was even born. At that time, the elven wonder that was the city of Sylvandale was nestled deep in the heart of this wood. No man could see its beauty and remain unmoved. It was the centre of learning and culture and the elves welcomed visitors from all around provided they came with no malice in their hearts. The city was protected by a band of elves known as the Sylvarran.

Then came the Demon Prince and his Reign of Terror and nothing would ever be the same. The Demon Prince and his cohorts destroyed the city and within a year the beautiful forest had been reduced to a twisted and horrific place as the souls of the people who fought and died in the Battle of the Bloodwood could find no rest. Here the Sylvarran were wiped out. Or so it seemed.

At the climax of the Chaos Wars, the Fellowship of Pelor entered the Bloodwood to banish the Demon Prince for a further 1,000 years. Part of this process was to put the souls of all the dead to rest, and Flek, the first of the new Sylvarran was able to do that.

Since the banishment of the Demon Prince the elves have returned here and this wood is now called Sylvandale again. The ancient city of the same name is in the process of being rebuilt with labour and elven magic.The elven queen has still not opened the borders of the Elvenwood to men. Any who venture too far into her realm are stopped and politely but firmly turned away.

History of Sylvandale

one thousand nine hundred years ago

The dwarves of Khazagrim stumbled across a huge root in one of the south-western mines. As usual when they find roots in their digging they simply chopped it away. However, the next day when they came back to continue digging the mine, they found the root had completely recovered and grown back. Perturbed by this the dwarves once again hacked the root away. The next day it was back. So they started burning the wood as they removed it. This seemed to have no effect. Every day since then the tidy and predictable dwarves send a team of cutters to clear the newly grown root away. This happened every day for nearly 1200 years. Unknown to the dwarves, this root was the root of the tree the elves call the Tree of Life. This tree was located deep within the northern reaches of the forest now known as the Bloodwood and was the tree that gave life to the Sylvarran – they were weaned on its sap. When the dwarves started to cut at the root the vitality of the Tree was lost and it withered and nearly died - its power to produce Sylvarran all but gone. Thus the numbers of the Sylvarran dropped alarmingly away in the years before the Demon Prince came to Albion.